John Harrelson/Getty ImagesRichard Petty has completed his takeover of Richard Petty Motorsports as he and new partners Medallion Financial Group and DGB Investments have purchased the assets of the race team from George Gillett.

Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 29, 2010)

Richard Petty has completed his takeover of Richard Petty Motorsports as he and new partners Medallion Financial Group and DGB Investments have purchased the assets of the race team from George Gillett, RPM announced Monday.

Petty will serve as chairman and will be actively involved in overseeing the day-to-day operations of the organization, which will field Fords for drivers AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose next year.

The team was in jeopardy of folding as Gillett, the majority shareholder in the team, had to restructure a $90 million loan last April. Having sold the NHL Montreal Canadiens in 2009, Gillett saw the Liverpool soccer team he co-owned sold over his objection in October for a price he felt undervalued the team.

The week after the sale, RPM employees were told their jobs couldn’t be guaranteed through the end of the season for what was then a four-car operation.

By that time, Petty, who owned only a small portion of the team, began working to find investors to purchase the racing assets but not be saddled with the debt. Petty put together the group of Murstein’s Medallion—a publicly traded investment company—and DGB Investments, which is led by VeriFone Systems CEO Douglas Bergeron.

As part of the purchase of racing assets, the debt was paid at “a big discount off of that” $90 million, said Medallion Financial Group president Andrew Murstein.

Murstein had looked into purchasing Evernham Motorsports, Robert Yates Racing and Petty Enterprises in the past—and those three companies eventually became Richard Petty Motorsports through mergers and buyouts the past three years.

“It was a perfect storm from our perspective,” Murstein told SceneDaily.com. “When we looked at all three of the properties three years ago, the combined purchase price was well north of $100 million. The new price was well south of $100 million.”

Bergeron told SceneDaily that Murstein approached him about the deal. Murstein, whose company was built on owning licenses to operate taxis in New York City and other metropolitan areas, knew Bergeron through VeriFone’s purchase of a taxi advertising company that Medallion originally owned and then sold to Clear Channel Communications.

Bergeron and Murstein said their investment companies together own more than 50 percent of Richard Petty Motorsports, and Medallion owns the most of any of the shareholders.

“Andy and I together own the majority of the team, and the three of us are not far off as far as percentage of ownership,” Bergeron said.

The company will have a board of directors that will include Bergeron, Murstein and Petty, and they will hire a CEO to run the business. Murstein said the board will include six or seven people, with Petty likely being able to appoint another board member and Murstein appointing two or three more.

“Richard is the chairman of the business—he certainly is the front man,” Bergeron said. “We’re going to instill some proper business discipline here as well, both in terms of managing costs, growing the business and securing the best and most lucrative sponsorships.

“It is my hope that within a year or two, we can get back to four cars.”

DGB Investments is an investment vehicle of Bergeron, who bought VeriFone Systems from Hewlett-Packard in a transaction valued at $50 million in 2001. The company is now worth more than $3 billion.

“With Richard Petty’s unmatched name and reputation in the motorsports industry, I know this investment is well-timed to succeed,” Bergeron said. “We are going to help put Richard Petty Motorsports back in victory lane.”